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Washington, D.C.-area lawmakers brace for sequestration

Some of the lawmakers with the most to lose from sequestration — those who represent Washington’s suburbs packed with defense contractors and federal workers — have lost their optimism that Congress could avoid it.

A Pentagon hiring freeze, a new March deadline for sequestration and spending drama are compounding the problems faced by the U.S. military and defense contractors in already austere budget times.

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“I’m not optimistic. I’m not even hopeful,” Rep. Jim Moran, whose Virginia district includes the Pentagon itself, told POLITICO. “In the next three months, six months, I think only bad things can happen. I think the president gave up his leverage, and I think this is going to be a very trying time for the country.”

His Virginia colleague, Rep. Gerry Connolly, said defense cuts have been a significant concern for the Beltway delegation since last summer, when deep, across-the-board sequestration cuts started to look more likely.

“As much as 8 percent of our GDP in the metropolitan region and in Northern Virginia could be at risk over just defense cuts,” Connolly told POLITICO. “You’ve got a lot of expertise built up over generations here in Virginia, especially in Northern Virginia, that could be also at risk. That’s lost expertise just walking out the door … on national security, homeland security, defense, intelligence.”

In the Virginia Democrats’ Beltway-adjacent districts, a shrinking defense industry would mean joblessness and economic instability.

“People know that ultimately before we get through this long sequence of crises, there are thousands of people who are going to lose their jobs,” Moran said. “The entire workforce is going to become demoralized. This is no way to run a government.”

Defense budget analyses show that as many as 200,000 jobs could be lost in Virginia, and about 100,000 are at risk in Maryland, Moran said.

“You’re going to see a real economic slowdown in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church,” he said. “And then people in the retail services sector are going to realize how important the federal employment base and the federal contracting base are to their businesses. These are the people who buy the products they sell and the services they provide.”

Industry insiders have been bracing for more than a year against the threat of a sequestration budget ax on top of already planned defense cuts.

“Everybody understands that there is an austere environment and a need to reduce costs and to reduce budget, particularly if sequestration hits,” said Professional Services Council CEO Stan Soloway. “But even without sequestration, we’re in a pretty austere environment relative to where we’ve been the last decade.”